1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a method of manufacturing individual piezoelectric actuators, a piezoelectric material is divided into various pieces each having a predetermined size, and then various such as a poling process and connection of various parts are performed for each piezoelectric piece of material.
Moreover, during miniaturization of the piezoelectric actuator, each structural part of the piezoelectric actuator is also miniaturized. Thus, in the conventional manufacturing method, it is difficult to treat miniaturized parts. Furthermore, since assembly of the piezoelectric actuator takes a long time, production efficiency becomes low and a manufacturing cost becomes high.
Further, since products of the piezoelectric actuators are packed individually, a manufacturing cost becomes high and unpacking of the package when it arrives at is destination is time consuming.
Furthermore, since the piezoelectric actuators are examined individually during quality examination before shipment, a time required for the examination becomes long.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric actuator which has high production efficiency and is available to miniaturize the piezoelectric actuator. Also, an object of the present invention is to simply pack the piezoelectric actuator and to easily perform a quality examination before shipment.
To solve the above problems, there is provided a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric actuator characterized by including the steps of joining parts except for piezoelectric bodies to a piezoelectric material having a size that a plurality of piezoelectric actuators can be formed, so as to form the plurality of piezoelectric actuators, forming the piezoelectric material with a predetermined poling structure, and then dividing the piezoelectric material to form the plurality of piezoelectric actuators.
Here, joinings of the parts except for the piezoelectric bodies are performed by, for example, a step of forming electrodes having predetermined shapes on both surfaces of a piezoelectric material having a size that a plurality of piezoelectric actuators can be formed, a step of joining vibrating bodies to the piezoelectric material, a step of setting moving bodies so as to be actuated by vibration transmitted from the vibrating bodies, and a step of setting pressuring means for pressuring the moving bodies toward the vibrating bodies. After these steps are performed and the piezoelectric material is formed with a predetermined poling structure, the piezoelectric material is divided to manufacture the plurality of piezoelectric actuators.
Therefore, in comparison with a conventional method of manufacturing a piezoelectric actuator by performing various processings and joinings of various parts for each of the piezoelectric bodies divided, the number of steps can be greatly decreased. As a result, production efficiency is improved and a manufacturing cost can be decreased.
Also, a part sheet including a plurality of identical parts in predetermined positions is layered on the piezoelectric material to join at least one kind of the parts. As a result, the number of steps can be further decreased and miniaturization of each of the piezoelectric actuators can be sufficiently applied.
Also, after the step of joining the parts except for the piezoelectric bodies to the piezoelectric material so as to form the plurality of piezoelectric actuators and the step of poling the piezoelectric material are performed, the piezoelectric material may be transported to a place where the piezoelectric actuator is to be used, and divided into the plurality of piezoelectric actuators to use them in the place.
Therefore, since the plurality of piezoelectric actuators before the dividing are packed together, packing can be simplified and a manufacturing cost can be decreased. Also, a quality examination before shipment becomes easy.